delicate
by smileysgoboing
Summary: au where soulmates can heal each other's injuries. ItaSaku. Complete.


**Merry Christmas!**

* * *

Sakura had always thought she would know when she met her soulmate. When she was younger, she'd thought the meeting would entail the whole world fading away around her as she gazed into the eyes of the one fate had chosen for her. Life as a shinobi and some growing up had, however, long disillusioned her of those fantasies. But there was still a part of her that expected _something_ – the world would suddenly click into place, or her heart would skip a beat, or, at the very least, that she would _recognise_ the person as her soulmate.

Instead, it's her third mission with ANBU and she can hardly be blamed for not noticing because everything is going wrong. One of the missing nin they'd been hunting down somehow gets in a hit on her captain, opening a deep line of red across his stomach. It catches all of them off guard, and in that split-second of shock, another missing nin uses a Wind jutsu to blast them across the clearing. Sakura sees all but one of her squadmates blur out of sight as she dodges, and curses when she sees her captain slam into a tree. He crumples at the base but immediately struggles to pull himself upright, one arm wrapped around his middle. The first missing nin rushes towards him, and then Sakura is there.

To his credit, the other shinobi reacts quickly, his sword flashing towards her, but Sakura is quicker, shifting out of the way with ease and reaching out to brush her fingers across his wrist. His whole arm goes limp, and the sword drops to the ground. Her other hand swipes across his chest, chakra blazing at her fingertips and it passes through without a single mark, but beneath his skin lies a shredded mess that only Sakura would have a chance of fixing. As the missing nin reels in pain, Sakura launches a swift kick to his chest, confirming the hit with an audible _crunch_ before he lands on the other side of the clearing.

The rest of the enemy shinobi are dispatched by her team as she kneels by her captain, removing layers of armour and mesh as quickly and gently as she can to expose his chest and stomach. Then, with hands glowing green, her chakra threads through his system, working to stop the bleeding and flush out toxins, though she also knows for certain his ribs will be cracked, if not broken.

"Four incoming, taichou," one of her teammates says, voice low and clear.

The captain nods sharply. "Work quickly," is all he says to Sakura, and she obeys, summoning more chakra to seal and soothe and heal. The extent of his injuries is such that a healing to return him to full function would likely put her out of commission, but before she can consider the idea, he pushes her away after the gash on his stomach is sealed. "That's enough."

Sakura swallows her protests, instead helping him to sit upright. She takes the opportunity to realign and brace his ribs, checking to make sure that there's no risk of puncturing a lung. He stiffens under her touch, either with pain or the intrusion of her chakra, and turns his head towards her. Even with the mask on – or perhaps because of the mask – the warning is clear.

"You broke two ribs, taichou," Sakura says firmly, though she cuts off the chakra from her hands and pointedly drops them to her lap. "Forgive me for wanting to spare you a punctured lung."

The disapproval radiating from her captain subsides, and although the words are stilted, his tone is genuine as he thanks her. Still, the dismissal is clear, so she nods and stands, giving him space to put on his blood-soaked armour. There's a hint of stiffness to his movements that betrays the pain he must be in, but he says nothing about it for the rest of the mission.

* * *

"Uchiha. Report."

A small part of Itachi is nonplussed by the Hokage's breach in protocol – Tsunade usually waited until he'd had some time to rest after an injury before his verbal report, but he recounts the mission with protest. Apart from his injuries, the mission had gone smoothly and had not been of major importance – yet the Hokage was still standing by his hospital bed, eyes narrowed slightly.

"Is something wrong, Hokage-sama?" Itachi asks finally.

Tsunade doesn't jump – that would imply that she had been caught unaware – but she turns her head towards him sharply, giving him a critical once-over. "You tell me," she says, pulling a stethoscope out and pressing it to his chest. Itachi can feel the cold metal even through his clothes and he suppresses the urge to flinch. Even though he's been examined many times, the sensation is still discomforting. "How are your lungs?"

He takes a deep breath automatically, bracing himself for the tightness and pain that has plagued him for so many years….and feels nothing. Itachi tries another, and another, and it's effortless and oddly freeing – it hasn't been like this since he was a child.

Tsunade meets his searching gaze with an unreadable expression. "Tell me more about your injuries and what your medic did."

"Atsushi Kazuma was able to use Wind Release to extend the range of his sword, resulting in the wound across my torso. One of his teammates then used a long-range Wind Release jutsu to repel the others, and it also ended up throwing me across the clearing into a tree," Itachi says calmly, though inwardly he wonders what he missed. "The medic stepped in and disabled first shinobi, before healing my stomach wound. At that time, I felt I was well enough to stand but she insisted on healing my ribs as well."

The corners of Tsunade's lips twitch, but all amusement is smoothed from her expression almost immediately. "During that time, was there any physical contact between you two without medical chakra?"

Itachi blinks, bewildered by her strange question, but the Hokage is entirely serious. He thinks carefully to the incident, but at the time, he had been more focused on the pain and worrying about his subordinates. "I believe so," he says finally, "but I cannot be sure."

"Hm," Tsunade says noncommittally. "And was there any other physical contact afterwards?" Itachi shakes his head. "What about with any other squad members? Family members?"

"No, we reported to you as soon as we arrived," Itachi says shortly. And Shizune had taken him to the hospital immediately afterwards, as Tsunade well knew.

"What about medical staff?" Tsunade presses. "Anyone new?"

"No," he repeats, and frowns. "Hokage-sama, what is this all about?"

"Your lungs have been partially healed," Tsunade tells him. At his confused look, she adds, "I didn't heal them. If I could, I would have done so the moment you told me about your condition."

Itachi takes a moment to think over this. "You think the medic healed them," he concludes slowly. "How is that possible?"

"She _is_ an excellent medic," Tsunade says dryly. "After all, I trained her myself. Never expected her to surpass me so quickly, though." She huffs with amusement.

"Haruno Sakura," Itachi says quietly, more to himself than anything. He had already guessed the identity of the medic, but confirmation was always nice.

"While it is possible that Sakura could heal you, the circumstances lead me to believe that it was not exactly…intentional." As Itachi mulls over her choice of words, Tsunade adds, "I'll bring her in as soon as possible."

Left unsaid, Itachi notices, is the Hokage's own theory regarding his miraculous recovery.

* * *

At least, Sakura thinks, Tsunade had been nice enough to let her sleep in a little. The summons had come late in the morning – strange, as she had given her verbal report with her squad last night, and there was usually a few days leeway for the written one. That meant something else had come up, and the messenger had only shrugged when asked why.

As apprehensive as she is, Sakura raps her knuckles loudly on the door. It swings open almost immediately.

"Ah, Sakura," Tsunade greets, looking her apprentice over for a few long moments. Her scrutiny makes Sakura uneasy, but she says nothing. "Come with me, please."

"Shishou, what's wrong?" Sakura asks, even as she follows Tsunade out of the office. "Does this have anything to do with…yesterday?"

"Yes," Tsunade answers. The sound of their heels clicking in the hallway doesn't falter, but Tsunade glances back, her expression softening. "Not in the way you're thinking, though. You've done nothing wrong."

Sakura scowls slightly. That answers maybe one of her questions, and only brings up more, but she keeps quiet, recognising that Tsunade is leading her to the hospital. It isn't hard to conclude that this probably has something to do with her captain, who was the only member of the squad who had been injured seriously enough for an overnight stay.

Tsunade flares her chakra just as they stop outside one of the private hospital rooms. "Uchiha, I'm coming in," she barks.

There's almost no time for Sakura to process Tsunade's wordsbefore she's following her into the room, but it's impossible not to miss Uchiha Itachi sitting in the hospital bed. "Itachi-san," Sakura blurts, before backtracking hastily. "I mean…taichou..?"

"Sakura-san," Itachi says calmly. Something about his composure puts her on edge, as does Tsunade's no-nonsense demeanour – it's her public face, the one that makes her _very_ hard to read – and there should be no reason for her to be using it, just as there should be no reason for Sakura to be here, and learning her captain's identity. "Good morning."

"Don't worry, I'm giving you clearance for all this," Tsunade says sharply to Sakura, nearly cutting Itachi off. "I want you to look at Itachi's lungs and tell me what you see."

It doesn't escape Sakura's notice how quickly and easily Itachi submits, baring his chest without a hint of embarrassment. There's no sign of discomfort or resistance as her chakra seeps through airways and capillaries, as if he'd done this many times before.

"Excessive fluid within the airways, including blood," Sakura reports. "A chronic condition, judging from the state of his respiratory muscles and scarring on the lung tissue, but no discernible cause." She can't help glancing at Itachi, because it's almost a miracle that he's still functioning, especially after so many years in ANBU.

"Did you know about this before?" Tsunade asks, her voice as low and serious as Sakura has ever heard it.

"No, shishou."

"And what about during the mission? Tell me exactly what you did," she orders.

Sakura does, describing in detail the injuries Itachi had sustained and what she had done to assess and treat them. It was all done according to protocol – the stomach wound had been the most life-threatening injury, so she'd healed that first. The broken ribs were next to protect the lungs, and she'd given him a blood-replenishing pill for the fight after. Once all enemy shinobi had been dealt with, she'd braced the cracked ribs so he could travel to Konoha without too much pain, but hadn't healed them because she was running low on chakra.

Tsunade nods slowly. "And at any point did you use medical chakra to diagnose or treat his lungs?"

"No, shishou." Sakura hesitates briefly before she demands, "What's going on?"

Tsunade tosses her a file. "You can read the details later. Itachi was diagnosed with this condition several years ago," she explains. "Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to treat the condition completely. Regular healing session are medication are required to keep it at bay, but the exact cause is unknown."

"So why–"

"Yesterday," Tsunade continues, cutting her off easily, "I assessed his lungs and found them to be partially healed."

"You think I healed him?" Sakura concludes incredulously. "But I didn't…" She trails away as a new thought comes to mind, and swallows hard at the idea.

"Hokage-sama, I believe some privacy may be necessary," Itachi says smoothly.

Sakura glances back at the sound of his voice, discomfited to realise that he has been watching her this whole time but she nods anyway. A small part of her regrets it though as Tsunade leaves the room, so she busies herself with pulling up a chair by his bed and avoiding looking at him directly. Eventually she decides on letting her gaze fall on the hospital bed, with only his dark hair noticeable in her periphery.

It's strange, to be alone with Itachi. As her teammate's brother, she's hardly spoken to him, but as her captain, she trusts him with her life. Yet she can't bring herself to speak, and silence fills the room after the door clicks shut.

"My parents are soulmates," Itachi says finally, his soft voice easing into the quiet that surrounds them. "They found out when they were children."

"Mine too," Sakura replies. "I mean, that they were soulmates. They'd actually been dating for a few months, and my mum had broken her arm on a mission. When she came back, my dad was waiting by the gates and he took her to the hospital. But by the time they got there…" Sakura smiles faintly thinking back on all the times she'd insisted on this story as a child, amazed at the idea of someone who could heal her instantly with a single touch – someone who was perfect for her. And now… "I wish there was another way to find out," she says.

Itachi smiles ruefully. "As do I," he says. "But you'll have to forgive my curiosity, because I would very much like to know for certain."

"Mm," Sakura agrees. "I think it would be best if you were to try healing me, since I… do you know any medical jutsu?"

"Only the basics," Itachi answers. "But it requires a great deal of concentration."

"Alright," Sakura says, and, after the slightest hesitation, draws a line across her arm with a finger glowing with chakra. Blood seeps from the wound immediately, staining her skin bright red. She sneaks a glance at Itachi, who narrows his eyes slightly as the sight. He raises his arm and pauses, hand hovering above her skin.

Sakura meets his gaze steadily, and that's all the encouragement he needs. She has just enough time to process that his hand is warm, and nearly covers her whole forearm, before the pain vanishes, and she _knows_ that the wound is sealing shut. And when Itachi moves his hand away, there's nothing but flawless skin.

"Aa," Itachi murmurs, and something catches in Sakura's throat at the sight, as much as she was expecting it. Her heart is pounding with adrenaline borne from anticipation, from excitement – or is it fear? This is not what she was expecting when she met her soulmate; this is not who she was expecting – but in truth, Sakura doesn't even know who she was expecting.

Once, she had hoped that Sasuke's porcelain skin would knit itself together under her touch. But her infatuation had faded, replaced by ambition, and her dreams of finding her soulmate had been reduced to the occasional passing thought. And now, faced with the reality of Uchiha Itachi as her soulmate, Sakura is at a complete loss.

She swallows nervously, and looks at Itachi, searching desperately for a reaction even when – or because – she can't decide on her own. And it is uncertainty, laid bare in how he widens his eyes, how his lashes brush his cheekbones as he blinks, once, twice, that she sees and draws comforts from.

A part of Sakura is unnerved by how open he is – how affected he must be by this revelation that she can read him so easily. But of course he's affected – he's found his soulmate. She is Itachi's soulmate, and he is hers.

Her mouth still won't form words, so Sakura can only offer a hesitant smile to show that the idea is not unwelcome – a little unexpected, perhaps, but not unwelcome. But her lips tremble with uncertainty, and this, perhaps, is what prompts Itachi to speak.

"Sakura-san," he says gently, almost carefully, as if he's saying her name for the first time. "I am not…adverse to a relationship between us. But please, I do not wish for you to feel pressured or obligated in any way." There is a brief pause, and Sakura glances down, allowing Itachi to gather his thoughts. She can't help but notice that his hand, though resting on the bed, is still outstretched to her. "At the very least, I hope we can get to know each other better, and become friends."

He looks at her intently then, watching with relief as she nods, her smile becomes a little more genuine. "I was thinking the same thing," Sakura admits. "Friends, then?"

"Friends," Itachi affirms, and smiles tentatively at her. Sakura has never seen him smile like this before – the closest she's ever seen is that teasing smirk as he taunts Sasuke. It strikes her that this is a side of Itachi – her _soulmate_ – that she has never seen before, and she can't help but smile wider, both at the thought and in response to the genuine happiness in his own expression.

A loud knock on the door startles them both. "Oi! I'm not hearing any talking!" Tsunade barks from outside, before her voice takes on a distinctly sly tone. "Do I need to be concerned?"

* * *

 **title from taylor swift's song, _delicate_**


End file.
